"Wouldn't it? Are foreigners so smart? Hearing Li Hongzhang's words, Li Hezhang was taken aback, "I mean, can foreigners think so far?" Can you know Lü Buwei? ”

"Hmph, don't underestimate the people of the world, although foreigners don't know etiquette, they may not know Lu Buwei, but scheming has the same end, and they still have some cleverness." Li Hongzhang said coldly.

"Maybe......" Li Hezhang frowned and thought about it, but still shook his head and said, "But I still think there's something wrong in there."

You must know that from the change of banner in Jiangnan to the present, the people in the Jiangnan area have not only disappeared from the various previous increases, but also canceled the main land taxes, and even miscellaneous taxes such as salt tax, customs duty, tea tax, wine tax, and pawn tax.

Although the Jiangnan State Administration for Industry and Commerce has also issued some new taxes, such as stamp duty and luxury tax, in short, most of them are aimed at businessmen and large families. To be honest, these new taxes seem to have a lot of names, but the actual amount of collection is very small, and it is difficult to rely on those new taxes to support the local yamen, and how much effect can they play for the elite army?

In other words, the people in the Jiangnan area are now paying taxes that are unprecedented, as long as there are less than five people in a family and an annual income of less than 100 taels of silver, there is basically no tax to pay. And those who work as soldiers in the elite army are now only a little more paid and have better treatment, but those privileges that are exempt from taxation are far worse than before.

Second brother, you think, before Li Yongji rebelled, those methods could be said to buy people's hearts. But now that he has rebelled, the entire Jiangnan area is under his actual control, the soldiers under him are full of food, and the common people have also returned to their hearts, so why does he continue to raise soldiers and workers by himself, and also give tax exemption to all the people? You say he's naïve, but he obviously doesn't look like he's short of money, and are the foreigners behind him willing to petition him to toss around like this? Asking for a little in return? ”

"That's just his temporary solution to the unclear situation." Li Hongzhang pursed his lips, "Those who rebelled throughout the ages. At the beginning of the uprising. In order to compete for the hearts and minds of the people, don't they all do anything to exempt taxes and pay grain, and after a long time, they will still have to collect taxes sooner or later. So there's nothing surprising about this. And. Didn't you say he also introduced new taxes? Collecting less taxes is temporary, and when his territory is stabilized, you see if he collects heavy taxes! ”

"That's right. I thought so too. Li Hezhang agreed, "By the way, second brother, when I came, I heard that the Jiangnan Administration for Industry and Commerce had issued an official document saying that the new tax would be officially promulgated next month. These new taxes are very interesting, and there are actually what kind of foot tax, concubine tax, large household tax, and even foot binding and concubine have to be taxed, do you think it's interesting? ”

"Ridiculous." Li Hongzhang shook his head, "By the way, what is the big household tax?" ”

"Large household tax, that is, if a family has more than five people, then the poll tax will be charged from the sixth person, and the poll tax is not the same, it is gradually increased, for example, your seventh family collects more than the sixth person, and the eighth person collects more than the seventh person, that is, the more people in your family, the higher the tax, this population is not only counted as Dingkou, but also counted as men, women and children, which is called large household tax." Li Hezhang pouted and said, "Does this make it clear that people are forced to break up?" ”

"It's so calculated." Li Hongzhang squinted, "With such a trick, many large families have to be divided into small families in order to avoid taxes. Once everyone is split, the authority of the original head of the family is no longer there, and the so-called power is dispersed, and one by one the small families are powerless to resist the future government, and it is not what Li Yongji says. Hmph, it's so calculating, it's really calculating, this is competing with the people for profit, this is fighting for power with the people, this is sinister intentions. ”

"In other words, once this is done, even if it is like our Li family, it will also be divided?" Li Hezhang asked.

"Then it depends on how big the amount of tax collected by people is." Li Hongzhang glanced at him, "If the tax collection is small, there may be some big families who can survive, if there are too many, I'm afraid it will be ......."

"That, that...... So what do we do? Li Hezhang asked again.

"Hmph, we'll have to wait and see, it's useless to talk about it now." Li Hongzhang waved his hand, "How is the situation in Suzhou?" Didn't you say that you also went to Suzhou, which is the same as Qingpu County? ”

"Suzhou, it's like a big construction site now." Li Hezhang said, "When I went to Suzhou, there were people everywhere, construction was going on everywhere, inside and outside the city. Outside the city, it is said that some modern new city will be built, and inside the city it is said that some sewer will be excavated, and it is in full swing anyway.

Hey, can you not be in the heat of the day? Those are all migrant workers who work for Li Yongji, with high income and good treatment, and I look at that, those migrant workers also think that Li Yongji is proud of his work, it seems that as long as Li Yongji works as a soldier, it is a great honor, I really don't know what they think. ”

"That's just a bunch of fools who are carried away by immediate interests and short-sighted." Li Hongzhang said undeniably, "By the way, how are they all doing, Lord Xue?" Have you inquired? ”

"I asked." Li Hezhang nodded, "When the imperial court announced that the Jingwu Army was rebellious, Lord Xue and the others were arrested by their own subordinates, and after that, the Jingwu Army guards who stayed in Suzhou continued to keep these people under house arrest in the Suzhou Mansion.

When I went, Lord Xue and the others were still locked up in the Suzhou Mansion, and the Mansion was surrounded by elite soldiers, many of whom were elites armed with foreign guns, and it would be difficult to save them. ”

"Hey, as long as the person is okay." Li Hongzhang sighed, "Now it seems that the situation is quite not optimistic." ”

"yes." Li Hezhang also sighed, "In the past, we thought that Li Yongji was just a puppet, and the Jingwu Army was a plate of loose sand, but now it seems that this is not the case. As far as I have seen and heard along the way, although Li Yongji does not show up, not to mention that his prestige in the eyes of the people in Jiangnan is rising, and his prestige in the army is incomparable, such a person is actually a child under fifteen, and he has only risen for a year. It's really embarrassing. ”

"Have you ever seen the soldiers of the Elite Army? What is the state of armament of the elite army? Li Hongzhang suddenly asked.

"I asked." Li Hezhang nodded, his expression more solemn, "As far as I know, there are currently three types of soldiers in the Jingwu Army, which are A, B, and C.

The soldiers of the first type are their real elite, which is expanded on the basis of the veterans of Li Yongji's family, all equipped with foreign guns and artillery, and all of them are secretly trained in the barracks far away from the towns, and they do not come into contact with outsiders.

Oh. Division is an internal saying in the elite army. There are about 20,000 people in a division, that is to say, about 60,000 of his A soldiers, and the actual number is not clear. Soldiers of the first class are their main soldiers. Extremely powerful. I heard that he broke Li Xiucheng's 100,000 army. It's only 10,000 Class A soldiers.

Type B soldiers are second-class soldiers with complex origins, and some of them are the elite of the local Green Battalion garrison in Jiangnan. The other part is the local conscription of relatively poor conditions.

These B soldiers were also all armed with foreign guns, but there were no cannons, only small cannons called grenadiers. Type B soldiers are actually similar in nature to the original Green Battalion soldiers, and they usually garrison important places to suppress local bandits, and if necessary, they can also be pulled out to cooperate with Type A soldiers in combat. I don't know how many of these soldiers are combined, but I estimate that there should be 50,000 or 60,000.

The C soldiers are actually called militia, and they are all composed of strong men selected from those migrant workers who work for Li Yongji, they do not have foreign guns and cannons, and all use a weapon called a machete, and also use shovels and hoes, but what is surprising is that these big knives are made of stainless steel, and even their hoes and shovels are also made of steel. Well, the number of these people is even greater, and it is impossible to estimate the exact number, but in Suzhou Prefecture alone, I estimate that there are 350,000 militiamen.

This group of people is in accordance with the seven-day reincarnation system, that is, every seven days, they have to work for five days, and only the sixth and seventh days do they carry out collective drills and martial arts. They often hold assembly drills for thousands or even 10,000 people in the open air, and they are not afraid of outsiders watching.

I once secretly watched them practice and found that they either kept running or digging non-stop, and the actual chopping training was only a small part. Even so, their morale is quite high, they are meticulous in training, and they have no intention of keeping their hands at all, especially when they are chopping training, they often shout and chop at the same time under a slogan, and I feel numb when I see the momentum.

The algorithm of A, B and C is just a sequence of their elite military forces, not counting the police, those so-called police forces of the pseudo-yamen such as the municipal government and county governments in various places, although it seems that although they are doing the work of the yamen, they usually have to conduct drills, and some important places, such as the police in Suzhou and Qingpu, many have revolvers in their hands!

Second brother, I'm not long-sighted, but in my opinion, without anything else, their police force alone can easily defeat the Green Battalion soldiers and ordinary bandits, not to mention the A, B, and C troops of the Jingwu Army. ”

"According to what you say, if the imperial court is compared to the elite army, it will definitely be defeated?" Li Hongzhang said with a gloomy face.

"Yes, there is no doubt about defeat!" Li Hezhang nodded, "You see, the imperial court has ordered the rebellion to be quelled for so long, and the army of Monk Lingqin is pressing in the north, but do you see any big moves by the Jingwu army?" No! Not to mention the Jingwu Army, even the ordinary people in Jiangnan did not think that the Jingwu Army would lose, so they were not worried about the imperial court's counterinsurgency order, which already explained the problem.

Let me see, the Jingwu Army now has the power to encroach on the world, and if it doesn't exert its strength now, I'm afraid it's not ready. For example, their A soldiers have just been expanded, and they may not have been trained yet, but I don't think it will be long before this day comes. I think that in a year at most, once the internal and external unification of the elite army is completed, he will send troops to the Northern Expedition, and then dominate the world! ”

"You're wrong." Li Hongzhang shook his head and said, "If the Jingwu Army is really as powerful as you say, then his first goal is definitely not to fight the imperial court, but to send bandits." ”

"Send the bandits?" Li Hezhang was puzzled, "Why?" The bandits now have the same goal as them, they should unite to fight the court first, right? ”

"Alliance?" Li Hongzhang pursed his lips, "If the imperial court is strong and they are weak, they will unite the alliance, but if the Jingwu army is really as strong as you said, he doesn't need to play an alliance with the bandits." In fact, does the imperial court currently have decent soldiers and horses in addition to our Hunan army? Although Monk Lingqin's soldiers and horses are blowing very well, I think it's just like that, against all the elite troops with foreign guns and artillery, it is bound to be defeated.

Therefore, in today's world, the bandits are the weakest, the imperial court is second, and the elite army is the strongest. In this case, it should have been the imperial court to jointly send bandits to deal with the Jingwu army, but it was absolutely impossible for the imperial court to do so, and the bandits would not agree, so this was a situation of chaos between the three kingdoms.

This situation is actually very similar to Zhu Yuanzhang in the former Ming Dynasty, it is also that the court is weak and the rebels are strong, and how did Zhu Yuanzhang conquer the world back then? Didn't he first defeat those righteous armies who could compete with him in Jiangnan and unify the south, and then lead the army to the north? If you want me to see it, Li Yongji also fought this idea, and in this case, he must send troops to take a defensive posture against the imperial court soldiers and horses, and first concentrate on exterminating the bandits.

When he destroys the bandits, he will inevitably come over to fight our Hunan army, as long as our Hunan army is also destroyed, the whole general trend will be clear. At that time, for Li Yongji, seizing the world was as easy as ripe melons. ”

"So what do we do?" Li Hezhang also seemed to have thought about this problem, so he was not surprised by this, but frowned slightly, "I don't think our Hunan army can stop the Jingwu army." ”

"Ji Quan, do you want to be an elite martial artist?" Li Hongzhang suddenly asked.

"Me?" Li Hezhang was stunned, "Second brother, what do you mean?" ”

"I mean, although the situation is a little unclear now, and there are still many variables, from the general situation, it is the elite army that has the strongest advantage, even if I don't like their approach." Li Hongzhang tapped the table with his fingers, "So, for the sake of our Li family, we must bet on both ends, so you can go to the Jingwu Army." ”

"What? Second brother, you ......"

"Listen to me!" Li Hongzhang waved his hand, "Li Yongji's foundation is unstable now, although the military is strong, there are not many talents available under his hands, so there is no sharp expansion." With your talent, if you go to defect now, you must be able to earn a good future in the Jingwu Army, and in this way, it can be regarded as leaving a way back for our Li family. ”

"But second brother, my current identity ......"

"It's not a problem who you are now." Li Hongzhang continued, "Although you are also working in the Hunan Army, you are not deeply involved, as long as you take refuge in the name of surrender and show your identity to join the Jingwu Army." Remember, you must join the elite army openly, and you can't be incognito, only in this way can you truly gain trust. ”

"Why don't you go, second brother?" Li Hezhang said, "Since the Jingwu Army is so powerful, why don't you go?" Your talent is a hundred times better than mine, if you join the elite army, you will definitely be able to climb higher, isn't it more beneficial to us? Why don't I stay, how about you defect to Li Yongji? ”

"I can't." Li Hongzhang sighed, "Not to mention that Lord Zeng is kind to me, I can't abandon it, let's just say that our family is making up and training Xiangyong in the township, and it can't do without me." Now that I am about to enter a troubled world, I have no soldiers in my hands, and I am uneasy...... In short, it is not suitable for me to go to the Jingwu Army, only you are the most suitable. ”

"......"

"That's it!" Li Hongzhang waved his hand, "I'll leave for home and tell Master Zeng about the things here, and then I'll find a way to go back to my hometown to continue to train my Huaiyong and prepare for the big changes in the future." As for you, don't go back with me this time, stay and join the Elite Army! (To be continued......)